I just can't see why and when to use... Hallo! Can someone help me with those propositions? I see that almost every phrase in Geman has one of them, but I just can't see why and when to put it. ZU

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Laïs

I just can't see why and when to use... Hallo! Can someone help me with those propositions? I see that almost every phrase in Geman has one of them, but I just can't see why and when to put it. ZU - UM - IM I mean, I know the meanings of the words, but for me it looks redundant and uneeded in almost all the pharses I read. :P Maybe I'm just totally confused,

Answers · 3

'zu' has a few meanings. The first one is similar to 'to' in English: Ich gehe zu Peter (to Peter's place), ich gehe zu Starbuck's (a name of a company etc.), ich gehe zum Bahnhof ('zu' and the article in the dative case), ich bin zu Hause (exception: at home). Another 'zu' is used as in English with an infinitive: Ich habe vergessen das zu machen (I forgot to ....) 'um' has also more meanings. One is with a time expression, but only with hours: um 6 Uhr. The second one is together with 'zu': 'um ...zu + infinitive - in order to: Ich gehe in den Supermarkt um einzukaufen. And sometimes the preposition 'zu' is required by a verb, e.g. sich kümmern um - to take care of: Sie kümmert sich um die Kinder. 'im' is 'in' with the masculine or neutral article in the dative case, answering the question: wo? Wir sind im Garten, im Hotel, im Wohnzimmer etc. Does that help?

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